Fashion Visionary Fern Mallis to Join Charleston Fashion Week 2013

Mallis to Lend Industry Expertise to Emerging Designers

CHARLESTON, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Charleston Fashion Week^® 2013 (CFW), announces fashion industry leader Fern Mallis will join as Fashion Panelist in its Emerging Designer Competition: East for the third consecutive year.

“It brings me great joy to share my personal experience with emerging designers in hopes of contributing to their success.”

Scheduled for March 19-23, 2013, Charleston Fashion Week^® will continue its mission to serve as a pipeline to career success for undiscovered talent in fashion design. CFW, in its seventh year, offers aspiring designers exposure and mentorship from fashion industry leaders in addition to producing a professional runway show.

“I’m thrilled to join the Fashion Panel at CFW once again,” says Mallis. “It brings me great joy to share my personal experience with emerging designers in hopes of contributing to their success.”

Mallis is widely known for her role as Senior Vice President of IMG Fashion and is hailed as the creator of New York Fashion Week, where she served as Executive Director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) for 10 years. Currently, she hosts the prestigious conversation series, Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis, at New York’s 92nd Street Y, which has featured in-depth interviews with Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Tom Ford, and Michael Kors. Additionally, she hosts fashion industry talk show Fashion Insiders with Fern Mallis on Sirius XM’s flagship celebrity talk channel, STARS.

Under the guidance of Mallis and other past Fashion Panelists at CFW, Emerging Designer participants’ collections have progressed to New York Fashion Week, BARNEY’S New York, Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, and ShopBop.com. CFW’s Emerging Designer competitors and their work have catapulted to television’s Project Runway and NBC’s Fashion Star; they’ve graced pages of Women’s Wear Daily, VOGUE, Teen VOGUE, ELLE, NYLON, and Marie Claire, among others.

Charleston Fashion Week^® 2013 takes place March 19 – 23, 2013. For more information on CFW, its Emerging Designer Competition: East, and Fern Mallis, visit charlestonfashionweek.com. Find @ChasFashWeek on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

About CFW

Showcasing fashion designers, retailers, and models, Charleston Fashion Week^® has become one of the premier fashion weeks in North America. 2012’s event held under the tents in Charleston, SC, featured 45+ runway shows, the Spring Bridal Show, Emerging Designer Competition: East, and Rock the Runway Model Competition™. CFW 2013 is scheduled for March 19-23. Visit www.charlestonfashionweek.com.